Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Newfield - Running to Places's (R2P) gender flip-flopped "Pirates of Penzance" is a madcap romp of pirate buffoons, bold and exuberant sisters and bumbling police.  One of Gilbert & Sullivan's funniest comedies, 'Pirates' has been a favorite of audiences of all ages for more than 100 years. The show runs Aug. 12-14 at Newfield High School Auditorium, Newfield.

"'Pirates' is a wonderful, silly story that's full of heart and completely devoid of meanness and cynicism. It's just plain fun," says Joey Steinhagen, R2P artistic director.

Kitchen Theatre Company's 2016-17 season marks the start of the theater's second quarter century. From the world premiere of Wendy Dann's Birds of East Africa to the hilarious encore production of Precious Nonsense, it promises to be one to remember. Darian Dauchan's Death Boogie showcases his mastery of multi-character solo work, accompanied by live musicians on bass and violin. It is a hip hop musical that is part performance, part concert and all Darian.

Clean Alternatives by Brian Dykstra was ahead of the curve when first produced, with its focus on the environment and our shared responsibility to ensure a sustainable planet. Alexander Thomas' Throw Pitchfork is a brilliantly performed solo performance by one of KTC's favorite actors.Sex With Strangers by Laura Eason explores the high-powered, cutthroat world of publishing and two passionate writers' relationship to fame and to each other. Opening the season is the irreverent, buckle-your-seat-belts, Tony-nominated Hand To God by Robert Askins.

MY CHILDREN! MY AFRICA!, Athol Fugard's gripping, eloquent drama about teaching and learning within segregated South Africa will start the 2016-2017 season, Civic Ensemble's fifth. Fugard was not only an internationally acclaimed playwright but also a freedom fighter in his home country. He confronts the tragedy of apartheid in this compelling tale, full of questions still being asked in 2016 within the Black Lives Matter movement.

Autumn 1984. The school year has already begun in a small segregated township on the Eastern cape. Anela Myalatya, known affectionately as Mr. M, prepares two pupils, Thami Mbikwana, a black boy, and Isabel Dyson, a white girl, to compete together in an academic competition.

Opera Ithaca will open its third season with a grand celebration entitled Masquerade, followed by the regional premiere of Kamala Sankaram's opera based on the story of Mukhtar Mai, Thumbprint, a New Year's Eve Gala to include Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio and a spring 2017 production of Rossini's Cinderella, in addition to several concerts and community events.

Masquerade, an evening of music, dance and revelry will occur at the ballroom of the Community School of Music and Arts on Thursday, October 6th. The evening will feature the talents of NYC Wagnerian soprano, Amanda Zory, singing highlights from Wagner's Ring, Opera Ithaca favorite, soprano Megan Nielson (Bluebeard's Castle, Don Giovanni), singing highlights from Puccini's Tosca and Madama Butterfly, and many more performers including local favorites and the 2016/2017 Opera Ithaca Apprentice Artists. NYC Mercedes Benz Fashion Week makeup artist, Dorothy Petersen, will transform the performers for this gala event.

Following their sold-out production of In the Heights, the Hangar Theatre will present Third by Wendy Wasserstein from July 21 until July 30, 2016. Set in a small, prestigious college town in New England (like Ithaca), the play tells the story of a professor whose seemingly well-ordered life is thrown into dizzying disarray after she accuses a student athlete of plagiarism.  Interim Artistic Director, Michael Barakiva, will be directing this production; he also directed the world premiere of this show at Theatre J in Washington, D.C. Join the cast, crew, and Hangar staff on opening night, Friday, July 22 at 8pm at the Hangar Theatre, located at 801 Taughannock Blvd, Ithaca, NY 14850 in Cass Park.

Wasserstein's Third tells the story of college a professor at a prestigious New England liberal arts college. After accusing her student and campus wrestling star Woodson Bull III of plagiarism, Professor Jameson's supposed well-ordered life as wife, mother and daughter is thrown into chaos. Featuring smart, witty dialogue and intelligent humor, Third shows that the late Wendy Wasserstein remains one of the most prominent female playwrights of the last 50 years.

From the Mexican border all the way into Canada, Ben Phan walked 2,668 miles with a guitar on his back. The result is a debut album, "Dreams in Modern Folk," described by one reviewer as "Django Reinhardt meets Ray Lamontagne." Phan's original music is a blend of gypsy jazz, bluegrass, classical, and folk, a unique synthesis all his own. On July 23, Phan will play one concert only in Ithaca, at 7:30 pm in the Ecovillage Song Common House

The Ithaca concert is part of a multi-state tour for Phan to introduce new audiences to his music. Although his last concert in Asheville, NC, played to a sold-out audience of 250, Phan says he's looking forward to the smaller venues on his tour.

One of England's most famous ships will dock in Ithaca this summer. Triphammer Arts is pleased to present Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore (The Lass that Loved a Sailor) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 5, 6, and 7, 2016 at 7:00pm at the CRS Barn Studio's outdoor space.

The Triphammer Arts production takes a fresh, lively, and family-friendly approach to this beloved Gilbert and Sullivan work, using both the building and the grounds of the CRS Barn Studio. The talented cast features professional singers from Central New York and beyond, including Carl Johengen as the incomparable Sir Joseph Porter KCB, Steven Stull as the beleaguered Captain Corcoran, Rebecca Leistikow as his rebellious daughter Josephine, Dan Bates as her 'lowly suitor,' and David Neal as the despicable Dick Dead Eye who does his best to foil their romantic plans.

The groundbreaking , Tony Award-winning Broadway classic "Rent" comes to vivid life in the Running to Places (R2P) production of the School Edition, July 6-17 at the Kitchen Theatre Company, 417 W. State St, Ithaca.

"The motto of the Kitchen Theatre Company is 'bold, intimate, engaging,' says R2P artistic director Joey Steinhagen. "It's the perfect venue for 'Rent,' which is certainly all of those things." The production is part of the Kitchen Theatre Company's Kitchen Sink Series, which is supported in part by CFCU.

While this show has been adapted for performance by non-adult actors (mostly by the removal of the song "Contact,") it contains mature situations, strong language, drug and alcohol use, and themes of sex and sexuality, and may not be suitable for the youngest audience members.

The Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County (CAP) is announced Tuesday the upcoming installation of three new public art murals in Tompkins County, all funded in part or in full by CAP's new Public Art Grant!

With assistance from the Ithaca City Public Art Commission, and funding from both a private funder, as well as the Tompkins County Tourism Program, CAP's Pubic Art Grant launched in 2016. Three funded murals will be completed this summer and fall. CAP's goal is to continue to expand the Public Art Grant in 2017 and beyond.

The Hangar Theatre's free late-night series, The Wedge, will return to Ithaca this summer under the direction of 2016 Drama League Directing Fellows Chloe Treat, Drew Feldman, Yavor Kostov, and Katie Lupica. The Fellows will be staging productions of H. Leivick's The Golem, the world premiere of Oh Oh You Will Be Sorry!  by Claire Kiechel, James Joyce's The Dead, and Salome by Oscar Wilde. The plays will last 45 minutes each and will be brought to life by the 2016 Hangar Lab Company.  

H. Leivick's The Golem
Directed by Drew Feldman
June 23rd & 24th at 10:00PM
Drenched in the magic and mystery of Kabballah, The Golem retells the legend of a sixteenth-century Rabbi in Prague who defies God when he molds and animates a huge earth-made figure to defend the Jewish community from pogroms. Originally written as a poem in 1921 by Russian expatriate H. Leivick, the play carries with it powerful echoes of the dilemmas still faced by our civilization today.
 

Tweet